Texas Football: 4 biggest transfer portal misses for Sark thus far

Eric Gray, RB

A transfer portal commitment that hit close to home for the Longhorns and rival Oklahoma Sooners this offseason was former Tennessee running back Eric Gray taking his talents to Norman. It was back on Jan. 27 that head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners landed Gray out of the portal over other schools in competition for him, like Texas.

Tennessee got two very solid years of production out of Gray, but it could now be Oklahoma that reaps the benefit of the Memphis, TN, native after he put his name in the portal this offseason. Gray did look good for the Sooners in their spring football game last month.

Moreover, I’ll make a similar point for the Longhorns in regard to missing on Gray in the portal that I did with Bowman committing to Florida. Texas doesn’t have any immediate depth needs at the running back position, but it wouldn’t hurt if they had even more weapons at the skill positions.

Gray is a more proven running back by a long shot than Bowman. During his two seasons with the Vols, Gray registered nearly 1,700 total yards from scrimmage (including more than five yards per carry), and 11 total touchdowns. Of his 1,680 total yards from scrimmage, Gray had 1,311 rushing and eight touchdowns on the ground out of 11 total.

Texas mostly turned to internal resources to configure their depth chart at the skill positions this offseason. They didn’t have any immediate needs anywhere, especially at running back and tight end. But we’ll see how Gray is able to do for the Sooners, while the Longhorns develop their own homegrown talent in the process in the backfield.